Australia should be initiating a psychedelic research program: What are the barriers?
Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry September 28, 2016 N. Strauss, S. Bright, Martin L Williams 10 citations
A renaissance in psychedelic drug research is underway in North America and Europe, overturning a 30-year political embargo. Randomized controlled trials using active placebos have shown that psilocybin can occasion spiritual experiences leading to long-term positive personality changes. Multiple trials indicate that one or two doses of psychedelic medicines like psilocybin or LSD, within a psychotherapeutic program, reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms in advanced-stage cancer patients, sustained for 6 months. Psychedelics also show promise as adjuncts for substance use disorders; an open-label trial of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for tobacco addiction found much higher abstinence rates at 6-month follow-up.